The District of Columbia district court added to the growing collection of orders opining on whether and to what extent the Supreme Court’s decision in Bristol-Myers Squibb applies to class actions. This case involved a putative class of employees suing Whole Foods in an attempt to recover wages pursuant to the upscale grocer’s “Gainsharing” bonus program. The program seeks to incentivize departments in individual stores to perform under budget by distributing budget ... Keep Reading »
Archives for April 2018
No Celebration For Yahoo!: Data Breach Claims Survive Motion to Dismiss
After Yahoo! Inc. suffered three data breaches in a span of four years, plaintiffs brought a putative class action lawsuit against the internet service provider and a subsidiary (collectively, “Yahoo”), alleging defendants failed to use appropriate safeguards to protect users’ personal information despite their representations that such information was secure. The breaches included a 2013 hack allegedly due to outdated encryption technology, which affected all three ... Keep Reading »
Student-Athletes Score Partial Win on Challenge to NCAA’s Scholarship Caps
A nationwide class action currently consolidated in multidistrict litigation filed by current and former student-athletes received a boost from a ruling on the parties’ cross motions for summary judgment. The athletes, from men’s Division I Football Bowl Subdivision and men’s and women’s Division I basketball, allege that the NCAA violated federal antitrust law by “conspiring to impose an artificial ceiling on the scholarships and benefits that student-athletes may ... Keep Reading »
Sorry, But Your Credit Card (Class Action) Has Been Declined
The Eastern District of New York recently declined to certify a putative class action filed by merchants against the four major credit card providers alleging antitrust violations. The complaint alleges that MasterCard, Visa, Discover, and American Express (“Amex”) conspired by adopting the same liability policy for fraudulent charges with chip-enabled credit cards by shifting liability from banks to merchants and implementing the policy on the same day to reduce ... Keep Reading »